Love Lost
by beitrik
Summary: After all they've been through together, they did not expect this to be their final mission.
1. Chapter 1

**We've had so many happy years,**

**What is to come will hold no fears,**

**You'll not want me to suffer, so,**

**When the time comes please let me go.**

**Do not grieve that it should be you,**

**Who has to decide this thing to do.**

**We've been so close, we two, these years,**

**Don't let your heart hold any tears.**

**\- If It Should Be (Author Unknown)**

* * *

"Welcome, Mei, daughter of Suzaki. Fuu, daughter of Akane." Red Skull's booming voice resonated across the dim canyons of Vormir. The two spies gazed at his shrouded figure, weapons drawn and poised to defend themselves.

"How do you know us?" Fuu asked, her voice steady despite the discomfort rising within her.

"It is my curse to know all who journey here."

Fuu turned to her mentor, who returned the same uneasy look. "Should we trust him?"

"He doesn't look like a threat..."

The pair stood in silence for what felt like hours. Finally, Mei cleared her throat and looked up at the wraith.

"So, floating guy, where's the Soul Stone? We're here for it." Fuu rolled her eyes. Even in a situation like this, her mentor still made carefree quips like nothing.

"You should know, it extracts a terrible price." The Red Skull's voice was raspy, ethereal... Somewhat sorrowful. It was the voice of a man weighed down by burden and regret.

"What... What kind of price?" Fuu whispered.

"Ah, liebling..." The wraith pulled down his hood, revealing a disfigured, skull-like face. "You're about to find out very soon."

* * *

A/N: Originally wrote this as a shitpost when my friend suggested "Hey, what if Mei and Fuu went to get the soul stone?" So I worked my (very limited) creative juices and produced this.


	2. Chapter 2

Braving the blistering cold that stung their skin, the pair followed Red Skull as he led them further up the barren mountains.

"Ne, who are you exactly?" Mei twiddled her thumbs. "Why do you look, uh... like that?"

"A lifetime ago, I too sought the stones." The spirit monologued in his mournful voice. "I even held one in my hand."

Fuu trudged up the rocks silently. She had a bad feeling about what was to come.

"But it cast me out, banished me here. Guiding others to a treasure I cannot possess."

"Huh. That sounds rough." Mei rubbed her head. "You sure this stone won't send us to the middle of nowhere? Cos that'll really su-"

Mei held her tongue as the trio reached the edge of a cliff. They internally gasped; the drop was enormous. There was no way anyone could survive such a fall.

"What you seek lies in front of you. As does what you fear."

The spies stood in stunned silence. _Does this mean..._

"In order to take the stone, you must lose that which you love. A soul for a soul."

"No way." Fuu whispered, her voice trembling with fear. "You're joking, right?"

Red Skull hovered silently in the icy wind.

"Ne!" Fuu cried out. "There's another way, isn't there?! Tell us!"

"Fuu."

The shorter girl was cut off by her mentor. The two locked eyes; Fuu was surprised by the look on Mei's face. Her mentor was normally a jovial, chill person, but the girl in front of her wore an expression of seriousness and stoicism.

"Shisho..."

"I don't think he's lying. I can tell."

"B-but... that means..."

Mei looked down, hiding her eyes from her apprentice.

"One of us will have to go."

Fuu's blood ran colder than the snow falling from the Vormirian skies. She was terrified. She didn't want to die. But...

But if she lived, Mei would be the one dying. And she didn't want to lose her mentor.

She didn't want to lose that which she loved.


	3. Chapter 3

"I don't... I don't want this..." Fuu fell on her knees as the tears pooled in her eyes. "I don't... Shisho..."

Seeing her apprentice in such a vulnerable state tugged on Mei's heartstrings. She and Fuu had not just been partners; they were also friends, roommates, a duo who shared joy and sorrow alike. Laughter and heartbreak, victory and failure, those were moments they shared together for the past few years or so. Despite their frequent little squabbles, they stuck together like glue; no conflict could separate them no matter how severe.

And despite that, Mei realized neither of them had found the opportunity to express how grateful they were for the other. They had taken each other for granted; even with the high-risk lifestyle of a kunoichi, they rarely thought of the possibility of losing each other. Maybe they did, but kept pushing it out of their minds day after day, mission after mission. And now, it seemed they could no longer run away from reality. They could no longer wallow in their complacency, in the white lie that they would be together forever.

Kneeling down, Mei held Fuu in a tight embrace. By now, the purple-haired girl was already sobbing, hot liquid streaming down her cheeks and onto her mentor's clothes. Mei shut her eyes tight as she felt her own tears beginning to flow as well.

Fuu was warm despite the cold around them. She was soft; she smelled faintly of lavender perfume; she was so small and frail and Mei's desire to protect her little _kouhai_ was bursting forth once again. She knew she would never be able to appreciate Fuu like this again, one way or another.

One way or another...

No. There was only one way.

And as much as Mei dreaded it, it had to be done.

"Gomen, Fuu." Mei croaked out as Fuu continued to cry freely.

"I never got to say this, all this time... or rather, I should have said it, but I was an idiot and decided to push it back." Mei sniffled. "I... I want to thank you. I want to thank you for the joy you've brought me all these years. You... You were the best damn apprentice I could have ever asked for, and... and..." Her voice broke as the tears flowed, getting heavier by the second. Her heart stung with intense pain.

"I... I'm so sorry, Fuu... I've taken you for granted... I never imagined a day we would no longer be together... I..." She wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry for being a terrible _senpai_, risking my life and yours and those of other people..."

Fuu shook her head, her face buried in her mentor's shoulder. "It's o-ok... s-shisho..." She remembered the terror that gripped her heart that night; when Mei supposedly betrayed her and everyone else. She also remembered the intense relief when it all turned out to be a ruse, and that Mei was simply looking to infiltrate Moryo. All of that seemed so far away now, so small compared to what lay ahead.

For what felt like an eternity, the two girls lay nestled in each others arms, sobbing helplessly into each other. Mei blubbering out choked apologies, Fuu rubbing her mentor's back in a feeble attempt at comfort. Both of them knew this was the last they'd see of each other; they didn't want to let go of the embrace, they didn't want their time together to stop.

Even till the bitter end, neither was willing to fully face reality.


	4. Chapter 4

Mei stared at the edge of the cliff. The tear streaks that clung to her face were beginning to freeze. She took a deep breath of the icy air; she barely felt ready, yet she knew she had to do this. Fuu stood behind her, all downcast eyes and lifeless arms.

The pair had hugged, cried, and spoken (or at least tried to, through their sobbing) for nearly hours. Pouring out every last ounce of regret, expressing apologies for the times they let each other down, belting out words of appreciation that neither had been able to say until then. If only they realized earlier how much they cared, how much they would miss each other when the time came to say goodbye.

If only they realized...

"Ready, Fuu?" Mei's voice was rough and hoarse.

"Mmm." Fuu sniffled and wiped her eyes. She forced a smile despite her eyes burning with agony. "Thank you, shisho. For everything."

"No, Fuu. Thank **you**." Mei turned around to face her apprentice for the last time. "It was an honor to have you as my apprentice. Just don't make the dumb mistakes I did, ok? I know you're better than that." Fuu stifled a small chuckle and nodded.

It was then that a set of words caught her offguard.

"I love you, Fuu."

The smaller girl stumbled back.

"S-s-shisho?? What are you.."

The orange-haired girl turned to face the cliff. She poised her legs, steeling herself to leap off-

_Goodbye, Fuu._

"Shisho..." Fuu mumbled as she slowly walked up to Mei. "I..."

Before she was able to finish her sentence, her foot hit a rock, propelling her forward-

"FUU!"

-and down the dreaded cliff.

Instinctively, Mei dove after her apprentice, who was screaming in terror as her body hurtled towards the stone floors.

"FUU! HOLD ON!"

Mei fired two grappling hooks. One end to anchor Mei to a cliff wall, the other to snag on to Fuu's tumbling form to prevent her from hitting the ground. Mei was a spy; she had mastered the art of maneouverability and had experience in missions that required such tactics. Surely she could rescue her _kouhai_, and spare her a botched death...

***click***

One of the hooks jammed.

The hook that was supposed to latch on to Fuu.

_Oh god..._

"No... No, no, no..."

Fuu's unintelligible screams of horror were soon replaced by a thud as her body hit the bottom. Despite the height that separated the two, the sound reached Mei clear as day; she swore she could even hear the individual bones smashing against the cold stone.

"No... Fuu, no... NO!!!"

Mei thought she had long run out of tears. That her eyes had dried up hours ago while she and Fuu were in each others' arms. Yet, as she stared at the child's broken body, as columns of light erupted around her and shot into the unforgiving sky, the floodgates burst open once again.

Then came a crack of thunder, azure lightning illuminating the clouds, and the shrill, devastated scream pouring out of Mei Yachiyo's throat.


	5. Chapter 5

She didn't know when she passed out.

She didn't know how she got here.

But the next thing Mei knew, she was facing the sun's orange glow, watching its rays brightening the purple-streaked sky. Her body felt wet; she soon realized she was half-submerged in a pool of water.

_Fuu..._

_That wasn't meant to happen._

_I was supposed to die, not you..._

She sluggishly sat upright as the thoughts flooded her mind. She replayed the scene over and over; getting ready to jump, Fuu slipping and falling, and her failure to save her apprentice. **Her failure**.

"Fuu..." She was choking up, once again. The memories pained her, each one like a hornet stinging her heart. Bringing her hands to her face, she noticed something in her hand-

It was a tiny golden pearl.

She did it. She got the Soul Stone. But at what cost?

Why did it have to be her? She knew no family besides Tsukikage. She had made mistakes; she knew Fuu wouldn't be as idiotic as her mentor. By all means, Fuu should have lived. And yet she didn't, because life decided to play a cruel joke on them.

Now Fuu would no longer pave the way for Tsukikage's future. She would no longer see her family again. She would no longer be able to achieve her full potential, to harness the opportunities that lay before her. She would no longer have the life she deserved.

Clutching the stone tight in her hand, Mei angrily punched the water. "Fuu... why, Fuu... It should've been me..."

Her chest heaved as she sobbed freely. Her throat ached, her eyes stung, her tears rained onto the waters below.

But no amount of apologies or regret could change anything now.

Fuu was not coming back.


End file.
